imensions, the portico alone being 180 ft. long and about
37 ft. deep. This gives access to a small hexagonal court, on the
western side of which a triple gateway opens into the Great Court,
which is a vast quadrangle about 450 ft. long by 400 ft. broad, with
ranges of small chambers or niches on three sides, some of which
evidently had at one time beautifully groined roofs. At the western
end of this court, on an artificial elevation, stand the remains of
what is called the Great Temple. This was originally 290 ft. long by
160 ft. wide, and had 54 columns supporting its roof, six only of
which now remain erect. The height of these columns, including base
and capital, is 75 ft., and their diameter is 7 ft. at base and about
6 ft. 6 in. at top; they are of the Corinthian order, and above them
rises an elaborately moulded entablature, 14 ft. in height. Each of
the columns is composed of three stones only, secured by strong iron
cramps; and indeed one of the most striking features of this group of
buildings is the colossal size of the stones used in their
construction. The quarries from which these stones were hewn are close
at hand, and in them is one stone surpassing all the others in
magnitude, its dimensions being 68 ft. by 14 ft. 2 in. by 13 ft.
11 in. It is difficult to imagine what means can have existed for
transporting so huge a mass, the weight of which has been calculated
at 1100 tons.

[Illustration: FIG. 127.--GROUND-PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF VESTA AT
TIVOLI.]

[Illustration: FIG. 128.--CORINTHIAN ORDER FROM THE TEMPLE OF VESTA
AT TIVOLI.]

Other smaller temples exist in the vicinity, all of which are lavishly
decorated, but on the whole the ornamentation shows an exuberance of
detail which somewhat offends a critical artistic taste.

[Illustration: FIG. 129.--THE TEMPLE OF VESTA AT TIVOLI. PLAN
(LOOKING UP) AND SECTION OF PART OF THE PERISTYLE.]

Circular temples were an elegant variety, which seems to have been
originated by the Romans, and of which two well-known examples
remain--the Temples of Vesta at Rome and at Tivoli. The columns of the
temple at Tivoli (Fig. 128) form a well-known and pleasing variety of
the Corinthian order, and the circular form of the building as shown
on the plan (Fig. 127) gives excellent opportunities for good
decorative treatment, as may be judged of by the enlarged diagram of
part of the peristyle (Fig. 129).

_Basilicas._

Among the most remark